The Thirsk Historical Play of 1907

Historical pageants
featuring thousands of performers and spectators – costume drama on a grand
scale – were a prominent feature of Edwardian civic life. But the period was
also noted for smaller pageants, or ‘pageant plays’, and this month’s featured
pageant is one example. In 1907, the same year as the large-scale pageants in
Oxford, Liverpool, St Albans and Bury St Edmunds, there was an outdoor pageant
in the small town of Thirsk, in the North Riding of Yorkshire. The Thirsk
Historical Play was performed in the grounds of Thirsk Hall in June. There was
an afternoon performance on Tuesday 25th, and two performances, one in the
afternoon and one in the evening, on the following day. Although much smaller
than the large-scale pageants of the same year – there were only 213 named
performers – Thirsk also had a grandstand, published a book of words, and
raised a significant sum of money. Special reduced fares were available from
any station in Yorkshire, and special trains were run by the North Eastern
Company on both days. The size of the grandstand and capacity of the pageant
ground are not known, but according to the local press, attendances were very
good, indeed close to capacity.

Thirsk Hall - the pageant took place in the grounds

The aim of the pageant was to raise funds to increase the
amount of insurance on Thirsk Parish Church. A disastrous fire at Selby Abbey
in October 1906 had made the churchwardens at Thirsk nervous about
under-insurance: according to an architect, the church at Thirsk should be
insured for £16,000, but at this stage the sum was only £6,000. Together with
funds raised elsewhere, a pageant would help to increase the sum insured to
£14,000. Although there is no specific information about the receipts, we know
that the Thirsk Historical Play was financially successful.

The Church - beneficiary of the pageant profits

The pageant presented seven scenes from local history. Scene
I depicted the conversion of a group of pagan Norsemen by the Christian
missionary Felix in the seventh century, and scene II was set at the time of
the Domesday survey, in 1087. The crowd was then treated to a scene set in the
castle grounds itself, where the pageant was taking place: discussions between the
lord of Thirsk castle Roger de Mowbray and others prior to the Battle of the
Standard in 1138, which was fought against the Scots near Northallerton. This
episode was lightened by a little flirtation between Mowbray and his lover,
Adeliza, whom he later married. A group of twelftth-century soldiers sang ‘Men of
England’, an adaptation of ‘Men of Harlech’, and a minstrel sang Arthur Conan
Doyle’s ‘Song of the Bow’.

Roger de Mowbray, now in his 50s, and his wife also
featured in episode IV, which depicted the aftermath of the rebellion against
Henry II in 1174. The failure of the revolt resulted in the destruction of
Thirsk castle. Scenes V and VI were both set in 1489, where a long comic scene
set in the town’s market ended with the killing by an angry crowd of Henry
Percy, fourth earl of Northumberland, which was traditionally thought to have
been at Thirsk, in response to the imposition of high taxes to fund Henry VII’s
wars in France. Finally, scene VII portrayed reaction in Thirsk to the defeat
of the Spanish Armada in 1588. Many, if not most, Edwardian pageants ended with
an Elizabethan episode, and Thirsk was no exception. It had originally been
intended to include a scene depicting the ‘humours and excitements’ of a
mid-nineteenth-century election, but this did not materialise, perhaps because
it was too potentially controversial.

The site of the former castle - its 12th century destruction featuerd in the pageant

The
script of the play was written by F. L. Perkins, the vicar of Thirsk. Like many
who wrote pageants in this period, Perkins was concerned to emphasise the role
of his town in the national story. He noted that ‘[t]he history of Thirsk
provides ample theme for pageantry and play ... From pre-Roman times Thirsk has
been a town of importance, playing its part in county affairs, and helping
largely in incidents that have been of national import and contributing to the
country’s history.’

Perkins’s
script was adapted for the stage by D’Arcy Ferrars, who was styled ‘master of
the play’ – a similar title to the more common ‘pageant-master’. Ferrars had a
long experience of managing festivals, going back to the 1880s. Born in Bath in
1855, Ferrars’s early career was a a musician, and he was perhaps best known as
a promoter of morris dancing, folk arts and old English sports. Ferrars had
produced the Ripon Millenary Festival in 1886, celebrating what was supposed to
be the 1,000th anniversary of the Yorkshire town’s charter. The self-styled
‘Master of ye Revels’ oversaw what was variously known as a ‘festival’ and an
‘old English pageant’; he was also involved in repeat festivals in the town in
1896 and 1906. At Thirsk in 1907, there were ‘old time dances’ in the intervals
between the scenes, which probably reflect Ferrars’s involvement and influence.

In 1907 Ferrars was heavily occupied with organising the
Liverpool pageant, which was, unsurprisingly, on a much larger scale than the
Thirsk Historical Play. It was difficult for the over-committed Ferrars to give
enough time to Thirsk, and in the end he made only three weekend visits. One
local reporter remembered that ‘[t]he carelessness that characterised the early
stages of preparation is illustrated by the fact that on one occasion when he
[Ferrars] had come from Liverpool to superintend the rehearsal of a scene only
two of its personnel were present in addition to the principals.’ With only a
fortnight to go, a local man, Gilbert Hudson, was drafted in to organise the
rehearsals. The son of the York diocesan registrar, Hudson apparently worked
very hard and successfully with the ‘inexperienced material’ that comprised the
cast, and was rewarded with joint billing as ‘master of the play’, with
Ferrars, in the printed book of words. At the end of the evening performance on
Wednesday 26th June, which was scheduled to be the last, Hudson was presented
with a case of pipes and a silver match box, for which the performers had
contributed. Although Hudson thanked Ferrars in his speech, Ferrars later
admitted that the success of the pageant was down to Hudson. Asked to compare
Thirsk with other pageants, Ferrars ‘said that Thirsk compared very favourably
with its rivals’, but ‘avoided comparison’ with Ripon, noting that ‘Ripon had
been doing this sort of thing for 20 years, and when they had no big festival
they were doing something in a smaller way’.

One feature of the Thirsk ‘historical play’ was the speed
with which it was organised; this was commented upon in the local press and the
published book of words. The first public meeting in connection with the play
was on 16 February 1907, and little was actually done until April. A handbill
was circulated after the February meeting, advertising for performers to appear
in the pageant: at this stage these would include ‘British voters’ for the
un-performed election scene. It seems that there was some local scepticism
about the likely success of a pageant at Thirsk, but press reports suggest that
it did not disappoint. There is a selection of press cuttings at Thirsk Museum,
all of which emphasise the impressive results that could be obtained in a short
space of time with amateur performers. Rather patronisingly, Ferrars told the Darlington and Stockton Times that

I think it is perfectly marvellous,
considering these people are tradesmen with no opportunity or time or training
at this kind of thing, that they should go on and do so well as they have. In a
town of this size what chance have they of trying any dramatic work? You
haven’t even a good assembly room, let alone a theatre. There is not a hall
that will hold a £10 house. I think it is perfectly marvellous.

The standard of
performance varied, but it was laced with humour and interventions in the local
dialect which kept the spectators amused. The market scenes of 1489 were
particularly notable for this, it seems.

As noted above, at the end of the Wednesday evening
performance of the pageant, there was a presentation to Gilbert Hudson. This
was not the last performance, however, as an additional one was subsequently
arranged, at a reduced admission price of 6d., to raise funds for a new cricket
pavilion. The rearranged performance was scheduled for the Saturday following
the pageant, but bad weather caused its postponement until the following
Wednesday, when again two performances were eventually given. This time the
pageant closed with a torchlit procession through the streets of Thirsk and
neighbouring Sowerby, with the pageanteers in their full costumes. This ended
with speeches and the national anthem, before the crowd dispersed.

Following the final performance, there was a torchlit procession through the marketplace

The Thirsk Historical Play was an early example of
‘pageant fever’ in the north, and although it was on a relatively small scale, it
is notable for having involved some important figures in historical pageantry.
D’Arcy Ferrars went on to produce a pageant at Worsley, near Manchester, in
1914, and was involved, along with Cecil Sharp, in the revival of sword dancing
in the Edwardian period. Gilbert Hudson went on to be pageant-master in
Pickering in 1910 and Scarborough in 1912. Scarborough will feature as a future
‘pageant of the month’. F. L. Perkins’s script was used again, with some
modifications, in another performance of the Thirsk Historical Play in 1933.
The 1907 play was not the first historical pageant in Yorkshire, but wide
coverage in the local and regional press appears to have stimulated many
efforts elsewhere. It marked the beginning of ‘pageant fever’ in the county.